Beijing6 by the signboard introducing the Temple of Heaven together with a general map of the area.

09.00 am – As we stepped in, we saw lots of old folks engaged in all sorts of activities.

Mass dancing in the park?! How cool!

A middle age man doing acrobatics.

Granny keeping the feather shuttles in the air.

By the corridor to the Temple of Heaven.

Old folks keeping their minds active by playing scrabble in the form of mahjong tiles.

Photo of the year thanks to Kirsty for being at the right place, right time!

Somewhere by the park.

09.28 pm – From a distance, the Temple of Heaven already looked magnificent.

The entrance from the top of the stairs.

Beautifully carved marble works decorating the steps.

After about 5 minutes of walking around, taking in the beauty of the Temple of Heaven, we proceeded to the hall where planning, construction and maintenance is displayed in detail.

10.04 pm – Nicely carved marble by the stair handles.

And then we headed to the Echo Walls and Circular Mound. Echo Walls is a place where you can hear the echo of a clap increase in number as you move towards the center. Circular Mound on the other hand is where you can hear a person far away at the opposite site of the area from the surrounding circular wall.

Proceeded towards the Round Altar aka Circular Mound that, on the solstice, the emperor would present his annual ceremonial report to heaven on the events of the past year.

Beijing6’s feet.

11.17 am – Kong Lin took us to a restaurant nearby Tiananmen Square that sells homemade dishes. When we first arrived, we thought we were going to be in for a wallet busting lunch experience. Little did we know, they were actually reasonably priced and really delicious! Highly recommended!

(Can’t read Chinese. Can you help me with the name?)

12.29 pm – After lunch, Kong Lin picked us up and had his wife drop us off at an intersection close to the Forbidden City.

We wanted to enter this tunnel to Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum but as it turns out, there was some sort of a meeting going on so we had to skip that part.

Zhengyangmen Tower marking the south end of Tiananmen Square.

Monument to the People’s Heroes, a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the People’s Republic of China in memory of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the revolutionary struggles of the Chinese people during the 19th and 20th centuries.